I'm At Home Among The Gum Trees
by AlliBalli
Summary: It's been three years since Hermione left Britain, changing her name and moving to Australia. Now Harry's found her, with the help of Teddy, and she has to face the life, and people, she left behind. Ginny Bashing and H/Hr, with mentions of RW/LB.


For the past three years all that she knew was fear, all her dreams and hopes had been put on hold while she worked toward fighting the darkness that threatened to destroy them all. Before she knew it the idealistic young girl of fifteen that had found herself as a major player in the war, the three years earlier, had been replaced by a scarred, wary eighteen year old, a woman beyond her years.  
>She had hurt, she had left others for dead, she had starved, she had run, she had prayed and she had killed. The innocence that her parents had always wished for her to hold onto left long before she removed their memories. The woman was almost unable to find the young girl inside herself, and now, after the war had ended, in a great battle that took the lives of many of her friends, she had no idea how to become that girl again, to switch off the war tendencies and the suspicion of every shadow.<br>It had been six weeks since the battle, which had taken place at the school that she had called home for six years, and Hermione was lost. All her focus had been on helping Harry Potter, her best friend since age twelve, defeat Voldemort and now that he was gone she had nothing, she was no longer needed; Harry had Ginny Weasley, his girlfriend, to look after him, Ron Weasley, her other best friend, was pursuing a very physical relationship with Lavender Brown and her godson Teddy Lupin had both his grandmother Andromeda and godfather Harry to look after him, but, apart from the small amount of time she was granted with Teddy, Hermione had no one.  
>She had been living with Harry in Grimauld Place, the house Harry had inherited from his godfather, Sirius Black, ever since the final battle, Ron and Ginny staying home at the Burrow to help their family heal after the loss of Fred, one of the seven Weasley children and Ron and Ginny's older brother. She had developed a routine with Harry and was quite comfortable with it, that is until she realized that she had feelings for her green eyed best friend, who she knew was with Ginny.<br>She had planned on ignoring her feelings and working toward a painless future but luck was not on her side and Ginny noticed Hermione's feelings for her boyfriend. Hermione had never been more than average friends with the red head but she respected her and would never try and take her place in Harry's life, but the youngest Weasley thought different, and before she knew it, Hermione felt that she was unwelcome in her best friend's life.  
>She didn't bother to ask Harry about the harsh realizations that Ginny was sending her way, she knew that Ginny would never do anything to harm Harry, and if Hermione's leaving him was what was best for him, and was what he wanted, then Ginny would be the one to know. Hermione, immediately after talking to Ginny, went to the Ministry to talk with the new Minister of Magic, her good friend Kingsley Shacklebolt, and organise for him to find her a new identity and a passport to leave Britain for the foreseeable future.<br>Spending the minimum time possible at Grimauld Place as she packed her bags after telling Andromeda that she was leaving and giving her the only possible way to contact her, a small communication mirror, if anything came up regarding Teddy and swearing the older witch to secrecy, Hermione made her way to the airport, determined to use muggle transportation to leave less of a trace, and boarded a plane headed toward Australia, as, even though she would be unable to return her parents their memories, she could at least be in the same country as them.  
>Hermione Granger left her life as a hero behind; she was no longer the smartest witch of a generation, no longer the winner of an Order of Merlin first class and the best friend of Harry Potter, the saviour of the Wizarding World, as she opened the file which held her new identity as she sat on the plane she became Harmony Grayson, a lucky survivor of the Second War of Voldemort, a witch with nothing to lose and who no one would miss.<p>

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Harmony Grayson lived the life that Hermione Granger never could, for the past three years she had been living in Melbourne in a nice flat a ten minute walk from the MMD, the Melbourne Magical District, and, although it had taken some time to return to a normal state of being that she had left behind at the age of fifteen, the twenty one year old was loving life.  
>She was very lucky that no one had recognised her the day she stepped off the plane at Sydney Airport, as the magical community in Australia was very involved in the muggle world, and pureblood supremacy was almost non existant, and had known it. The person she left behind had very distinctive brown hair but the person she became, with the help of magic, had extremely long and straight platinum blond hair, the spell used was almost never thought of, its effects permanent, a strip of her hair changing colours every few days as a tribute to her dead metamorphic friend, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, the same friend that made her the godmother of her child. She also changed the colour of her eyes, using muggle contacts to make her brown eyes blue.<br>It didn't surprise her how effective these simple changes were in hiding her identity, what did surprise her was how these changes, coupled with the fact that she had taken to keeping her body in top fighting condition, made her so desirable to the opposite sex. But, although she had many offers, and was very flattered by the attention, she kept herself single.  
>Although she had arrived in Sydney Harmony quickly found that she preferred the simplicity of Melbourne and found herself a job in a small coffee shop book store in the MMD called 'The Magic Bean' and a great apartment, having a large amount of money left over from the awards from the Ministry of Magic for helping defeat Voldemort, and compensation for the lost year of her life which was spent living in a tent with Harry.  
>The amount of money she had would see her living comfortably, without having to lift a finger, for the rest of her life but Hermione enjoyed her job. After the first month living in Melbourne she realized that she needed something to keep her occupied, and her thoughts away from all she had left behind in England, so the moment the 'Help Wanted' advert appeared in the window of 'The Magic Bean', Harmony's favourite hangout, a coffee and book store she applied and started work.<br>It didn't take long for Harmony to get the hang of things and she soon made some good friends, and, although they could never replace the ones she left behind, she was happy with them. She met Nikita Blake, or Nikki as she liked to be called, aged twenty two, her first week in Melbourne, Nikki worked at The Magic Bean and put in a good word for Hermione when she applied for the job. Nikki became Harmony's closest confidant, and the only person that knew that Harmony Grayson was in fact Hermione Granger.  
>Alongside Nikki as Harmony's friend were Jacob Quinn, also twenty two, Nikki's boyfriend and general funny man who worked at the bar across the road, The Griffin and Wand, and Jessica Hale, twenty, an energetic party girl who lived off her parents' money and was always trying to get Harmony to go out more.<br>Although it wasn't the life Harmony had imagined living back in her days as Hermione she would never ask for any different, at least out loud that was. Behind the scenes, behind the smiles Harmony still cried for the people she had left behind, but by now she had convinced herself that she didn't want to ever go back, and if anyone came looking for her she would stay away, because it was what was safest for her heart.  
>Only Nikki knew that Harmony was still deeply in love with Harry Potter, and helped shield the younger, by one year, witch from too many reminders of her past. Harmony's only contact with the people she left behind was when she called Andromeda and Teddy on the mirror she had left behind, determined that her godson would at least know her face and voice.<br>Andromeda often tried to talk Harmony into coming back, telling her how much every one missed her and how their lives were going, but she had learnt quickly not to talk about Harry with the young witch. By the time Harmony was working at The Magic Bean Andromeda hadn't told her anything about Harry in three weeks.  
>It was during a shift at the Magic Bean that Harmony's life was upended one more time, it had been a slow day and she was sitting at the counter reading the newest drama in the series that Nikki had convinced her to read when the door to the small store opened. Nikki was out on her lunch hour, which she was spending with Jacob, and Jean, the owner of the store had left the two in charge of the store for the day so Harmony put her book down as she prepared to serve the customer.<br>When she looked toward the door she was surprised to see that it wasn't an adult, but a small boy of four, standing in front of her counter. The boy giggled to himself, obviously having ran away from his parents and Harmony smiled down at the boy but her smile turned to shock as the boy's hair changed from an ebony colour to a vibrant blue.  
>"Teddy?" she asked tentatively, wondering if the boy in front of her was in fact her godson, and if he was, who would be with him.<br>The boy looked up at her in shock, obviously not expecting anyone to know him, but when he saw her face, and her rather distinctive hair, a huge smile broke out on his face, "Mione?" he exclaimed before barrelling into her to give her a huge hug. Harmony had talked to the boy once a week ever since she left, so she wasn't surprised that he recognised her, and she returned the hug she had been wishing for ever since she left three years earlier.  
>"Teddy, what are you doing here?" she asked the four year old, using a tone to make sure that he knew she did want him there, but she didn't know why he was.<br>"Hiding." He said with a big grin and pulled her to one of the couches nearby and hopped onto her lap, changing his hair to match hers. "I ran away from Uncle Harry." She almost fell off the couch at his words; Harry was here, in her town and with one of the only people who could expose her.  
>"Does- Does Uncle Harry know I am here?" she asked, feeling as though her heart would beat itself out of her chest.<br>Teddy looked her like she was silly, "I didn't know you were here." He said petulantly, "And even if I did I wouldn't tell Uncle Harry." Harmony smiled and gave him a squeeze to let him know she understood. From the first moment Teddy had been able to understand she made sure he knew not to tell Harry anything about her. Teddy wasn't finished talking though, "He talks about you a lot though."  
>Harmony almost cried; Harry still thought of her, he tried to make sure Teddy knew about her, did that mean he still cared about her? Teddy seemed to notice how she was feeling and gripped her in an even tighter hug, which she gladly returned, "I've wanted to hug you for years." She said to her godson and was given a huge smile in return as his hair turned several different bright colours in succession before returning to look like hers once more as a sign of his enthusiasm at those words.<br>The door to the shop opened again and Harmony froze, knowing the probability of it being the one person she didn't want to see coming through the door was more than she wanted. "Teddy." A masculine voice called out and Harmony tried to extract herself from Teddy's hug so she could retreat, but the young boy wasn't having any of it and she wasn't able to move off the couch.  
>"Over here!" Teddy called, his voice full of excitement and joy, which almost made Harmony want to cry at the unfairness of the situation; she had left Teddy without his godmother for three years and he was so happy to see her and all she could think about was running away before Harry got there. Tears leaked down her face as she stilled her futile escape attempts.<br>Harry got the surprise of his life as he walked over to where Teddy's voice came from and was greeted with the sight of Teddy clinging to a blond witch. He couldn't help but notice the great beauty of the witch, her long hair messy as it hung around her, and then he noticed that she was crying.  
>"Are you okay?" he asked politely, as she tried to wipe her tears away. "I'm sorry about Teddy, he likes to play a bit."<br>"No, I'm fine." She said quietly and he was only just able to discern a British accent on her voice, "It might be best if you both left, though."  
>Teddy gave her a heartbroken look, "You want me to leave?" he asked, his voice quaking.<br>Harmony gave him a kiss on the cheek, feeling terrible at how she was making the four year old feel. "I want you to stay," She whispered in his ear, "but you have to go, Uncle Harry can't know who I am." Teddy couldn't understand why she didn't want his favourite uncle to know about her, but since she never had he let it go and nodded into her arm.  
>"I'll be back." He told her as he reluctantly jumped off her lap and walked towards where Harry was standing, watching the situation with a scrutinizing eye, wondering what about this woman caused Teddy to react strongly to her, and what had caused her to start crying.<br>"I'm sorry if Teddy was a bother" Harry said as the boy came toward him and he got ready to leave.  
>"I'm back Harmony." A voice called from the back of the store, but Harry heard a different name, the similarities between the two so similar, but he brushed it off, until the woman spoke to him.<br>"That's alright Harry, he's a good kid." Harmony said, and then froze, as she realized she had slipped.  
>"Hermione?" he asked in shock, as he suddenly noticed exactly how familiar she was to his missing friend. She jumped up, made a small 'EEP' sound and ran, full speed into the back room of the store, Harry frozen in place for a few seconds before his brain kicked in and he chased after her, stopping as a door slammed right in front him.<br>"Hermione, come out!" he called in to the girl he had been missing for the past three years, the girl he loved.

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